Taking A Break
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For the past several weeks, my posts have been sparse. And when I have posted, it’s usually been a link to some interesting bit of news or an arcane blast from the distant past. Time and commitments have pulled me away and continue to do so.
So I’ve decided to take a hiatus from my True/Slant postings for a spell. The editors and support folks have all been terrific, and I still enjoy following many of the contributors’ contributions to the site.
I may still stop in from time to time to post an occasional item. But if you’re looking for me, you’ve a better chance of finding me at the site I keep for the ethics column I write for the New York Times Syndicate, in the classroom, or working on one of other projects I have on my plate. With a finite number of minutes in the day, I needed to step back from something for a while and, sadly, this was it.
I’ll leave you with a poem by Wendell Berry that he sent to me after I tried to get him to write something for a magazine where I was working as an editor at the time:
Dear Friend,
Your kindness deserves a better fate
This reply is probably already late,
And would be later if I didn’t have it thus printed out.
Such promptness is nothing to brag about;
It is jut the best I can do,
Since I am (like, undoubtedly, you)
Too busy, which is bad manners and a poor excuse.
But I’m resigned, I regret to say, to this abuse
Of courtesy, and to doing part of my duty
By neglecting the rest. The beauty
Is in the part I do;
The neglect, I guess, is only true.
But some things I did I don’t do anymore,
And some things I never did before
I still don’t do. I don’t talk on TV
Because I don’t like mechanically enforced stupidity,
But aside from its falsehood and its tedium
I just don’t trust the damned medium.
I rarely have time to read unpublished books;
I read too few published ones. And it looks
As if I had better say too
That I don’t know which magazines will publish you
Or me. And I never give advice
To anybody who may be so nice
As to take it. I can’t edit poems, interpret Scripture,
Or go anywhere to give a lecture.
I hate travel by Interstate and travel by air.
I’m almost not going anywhere.
A bird who cannot fly and sing,
I’m almost not doing anything
That can’t be done at home. To your health,
Friend! Try staying home yourself.
–Wendell Berry
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That is one classy exit or hiatus, Jeff. I’ve always loved Berry. “Memories of Old Jack” ranks high among my favorite books.
Thanks, Jerry. He’s a favorite of mine too. Sadly, I could never convince him to write a piece for the magazine, but I did get others.
In response to another comment. See in context »You’ll be missed Jeff, I hope we’ll see you back in these parts sometime soon.
Thanks, Michael. I won’t be far away. Thanks for all the help over the past year. Were it not for the limited number of hours in the day, I’d wouldn’t be stepping back for a while.
In response to another comment. See in context »Looking forward to you popping back in now and again, Jeff. Here’s a hiatus haiku that answers the age-old question: what do you get in a mashup of Jeffrey Seglin and the Steve Miller Band?
Time keeps on slipping
occasional True/Slant’ing
The Right Thing to do
Very nice. Thanks. And thanks for helping me through some technological challenges as they came up. I do plan to pop back in when I can, but for a while need to tend to the other stuff.
In response to another comment. See in context »